Track-instrument for railway-signals



Unirse Sterns Parisist" @trice y MAHLON S. CONLY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TRACK-INSTRUMENT FOR RAILWAYHSIGNALS.'

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,403, dated February10, 1891.

Application filed .Tune 5, 1890. Serial No. 354,309. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MAHLoN S. CoNLv, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in rlrack-lnstrumentsfor Railway-Signals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in track-instruments especiallydesigned for use in connection with electric railway-signals in which anelectric current is either made or broken by the act-ion of the passingtrain through the instrumentality of a track-instrument, but is moreespecially designed as an improvement upon the invention set. forth inmy application for Letters Patent of the United States, Serial No.313,937, filed .Tune 11, 1889, and allowed December 3, 1889, in whichthe track-instrument. is secured direct to the rail and operated by avibrating bar, also secured to the rail at one end thereof.

The prime object of thisinvention is to dispense with the employment ofa vibrating bar in operating a track-instrument secured ldirectly to therails and to utilize the difference in movement between two parts of therail through the instrumentality of a bar, also rigidly secured to therail, for operating a track-instrument.

Another object is to operate a track-instrument attached to the rail bya bar, also attached to the rail, at each side of the trachinstrument,whereby the movement of that portion of the rail to which thetrack-instrument is secured between the ends of the bar may be utilizedfor operating the instrument.

Further objects are to have theinstruments of such a character that thecircuit therethrough may be either made or broken, to have theinstrument positive and direct in its operation, and to provide durable,selfadjustable, economical, and eiiicient means for accomplishing theseimportant objects, all as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhichd Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a rail, showing devicesapplied thereto embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a transverse verticalsection through the rail and track-instrument on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;Fig. 3, a horizontal section through the same parts,

taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; Fig. i, atransverse vertical sectionthrough the rail and the .bar-clip, taken on the line 4 fl of Fig. 1;Fig.

5, an inner face view of the bar-clip, showing the disposition of thebar therein; and Figs. G and 7, modified forms of circuit makers orbreakers.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in the severaliigures of the drawings.

Referring .by letter to the accompanying drawings,Aindicates the. rail,and B a casing secured thereto below the top of the rail, and preferablyon the outer side thereof, in order to avoid the flange, as well as thetread of the car-wheels, by means of stud-bolts C, (more clearly shownin Fig. 2,) projecting beneath the rail and through a hook D, engagingthe opposite Vflange of the rail and held in position by means of nutsE, the casing itself being recessedl` as shown, for the reception of oneiiange of the rail; but obviously the manf ner of fastening the casingto the rail may be variedasdesired. This casingisprovidedwith aremovable cap orcoverF for convenience of gaining access to themechanism inclosed therein, and has j ournalcd therein a rock-shaft G,provided with a crank Il on the inner end thereof, engaging acorresponding perforation in a bar I, lying parallel with the rail andbetween it and the casing, and secured rigidly to the rail at its ends,respectively, by means of suitable clips J, bearing against the rails atone side and secured in position byhoolebolts f K or in any otherconvenient manner. hese clips are recessed on their inner faces, asshown in Figs. e and 5,`and provided with lugs L at the upper and lowersides of the recesses, between which rest the ends of the bar, so as topermit of thc desirable moveH ment of Dthe bar, which in practice isfound to best answer the intended purpose by having a length of 'five orsix feet, although the length thereof is not arbitrary and may be variedat will.

The opposite orouter end of the rock-shaft has loosely mounted thereon aratchet-wheel M, insulated therefrom, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and apawl N, rigidly secured thereto, and preferably consisting of acrank-arm having a springtooth attached thereto, but insulatedtherefrom, 'for engaging the teeth of IOL;

the ratchet-wheel, as shown. With the teeth of the ratchctwheel alsoengage suitable contact-springs O l), one of which is insulated, andboth of which constitute the terminals of an electric circuit extendingthrough and operating suitable devices contained in the signalingapparatus (not shown) for operating the signals upon the making orbreaking of the electric circuit through the trackinstrument, or one oftht; contact-springs may be grounded, so that the instrument is adaptedfor use in connection with either a closed or open metallic or groundedcircuit.

In the drawings the circuit is shown as permanently closed, so that theinstruments may be operated upon the breaking thereof, the ratchet-Wheelforming a part of the circuit, the breaking of which latter isaccomplished by the snapping of either one of thc contactsprings O or Pfrom the point of a tooth onto the ybase of the next tooth, the teethbeing so shaped that the spring will not make contact in passing fromthe point of one tooth to the base of the next tooth. lt will thereforebe understood that while the bar l is rigidly secured at .its ends,respectively, to the rail on `each side of the track-instrument casingit Vhas no `other connection with the track-instrument, except throughthe crank ll of the rock-shaft G,and is therefore not affected by themovements of the track-instrument and that portion of the rail to whichthe instrumentgis attached. llencc when the wheels of a locomotive or ofa car, if of sufficient weight, come directlyT over the casing the trackat that point will be deflected, while the bar which is supported on therails at some distance to each side of the casing will remain,practically at a standstill. lhcresult of this action is that theengagement of thc cran k with the bar will produce a partial rotation ofthe .rck-shaft,which is carried down bythe casin g ,swinging about thecrank as a pivot, which .causesaeorrespondin g movementof thecrankpawlN,which, engaging the tooth of the ratchet-wheel M, causes the latter tomake a partial rotation, sufficient to cause one or the other `of thespring-contacts to snap off of a tooth, and thus cause an instantaneousbreak of the electric circuit, as before described. After thewheelpasses off of that portion of the track immediately above the casing thetrack will resume its normal position, and the crankpawl by this action,through the medium of .the rock-shaft and crank, will be restored to itslnormal .engagement with the next tooth, ready for another operation.

Vhile my invention is adapted for use in connection wit-h either an openor a closed circuit, greater certainty is secured in connecn tion withthe latter, because no matter what degree `of movement the instrumentmakes under varying pressures to which it is subjected, if it issufficient ,to break the circuit-V` that is, to move the pawl onetooth-the suc- Gessful operation of the instrument is assured, becausethe circuit will be instantly reclosed,

the breaking of the circuit being instantaneous and only lasting duringthe time it requires `for the pawl to spring from one tooth to the next,besides which, in connection with either circuit, no adjustment of thedevice is required, it being self-adjustable to all the varyingconditions to which it may be subjected.

ln practice it is designed that the instrument shall be so arranged thatonly the weight of thel locomotive, or rather that portion thereofsupported by the drive-wheel, will be sufficient to operate theinstrument. To avoid making the teeth of the ratchet-wheel objectionablysmall, it is preferred that when one of the spring-contacts -say the oneO-engages a tooth of the ratchet-wheel the other one B will be midwaythe length .of another tooth, so that a movement of the wh eelequalinghalf the length of the tooth will be sufficient to insure the operationof the instrument, thereby enabling the employment of half the number ofteeth which would otherwise be necessary. The certainty of operation ofthe track-instrument may further be insured by splitting thespring-tooth of lthe pawl into two parts, as shown in F-ig. l, .one partengaging a tooth while the other half overlaps the next tooth inadvance, .for by this means a movement of the pawl of only half thelengthof the tooth will be sufficient to produce the desired result.These details of construction, however, are mere matters of choice andconvenience and are not absolutely essential to the successful operationof the instrument, and l do not desire to limit myself to theconstruction `herein shown and described, for obviously this may bevaried in many ways and still accomplish fthe object of my invention,which, broadly stated, isthe utilization of the bodily movementof atrackinstrument for making or breaking the electric circuit throughitself, or, in other Words, for its own operation.

As an instance to which the apparatus vfor carrying out my invention issubject `reference is made to Fig. 6, in which the ratchetwheel, insteadof being employed as thedirect means for making or breaking the circuit,ris utilized as a means for operating a wheel, provided with alternateinsulated and conducting peripheral surfaces Q R, with either one ofwhich the contact-springs O P may be normally in contact, moving acrossthe intermediate portion so as to either make or ybreak the electriccircuit, as the case may be, whenever the wheel is actuated, as beforedescribed; or, as illustrated in Fig. l7, the ratchet-wheel ill andcrank-pawl N may be entirely dispensed with and the circuit making andbreaking disk S substituted therefor, rigidly mounted upon therock-shaft G, so as to rock back and forth therewith, thecontact-springs O and'P engaging the edge of the disk, which, like thewheel illustrated in Fig. 6, is provided with alternate insulated andconducting Surfaces 'l U, respectively, as shown, with either IOO tog

IIO

of which the contacts O I) may be normally in engagement, so that uponpartial rotation of the disk the electric circuit therethrough Will bemade or broken, as the case may be. By supporting the bar I upon thelugs L in the clips that portion of the rail to which the clips aresecured may have the slight movement necessary upon the passage of thetrain, in order to conform to the exure of that portion of the railbetween the clips to which the instrument is attached without materiallyaffecting the vertical position of the bar. It is also probable that inthe case of old or very flexible rails the depression of either end ofthe bar before or after the instrument itself is depressed may serve tooperate the instrument in the same manner as if that portion of the railto which the instrument itself or the casing thereof is attached weredepressed and the ends of the bars held stationary, it being immaterialwhich Way the result is produced so long as it is due to the movement ofone part relative to the other, and I may here'state that I have hadthis instrument in practical and successful operation for several monthsand that the desired result is produced thereby, but Whether through themovement of the bar or the casing I am as yet unable to positivelydetermine, believing` it, however, to be principally due to the movementof the casing.

This instrument is direct and positive in its operation, and by reasonof the multiplying` of the movement of the crank-arm, due to the greaterdiameter of the ratchet-Wheel, or rather to the radial position of theteeth thereof with relation to the crank, produces the successfuloperation of the instrument with the slightest depression of either therail or bar, as the case may be, to which the instrument is secured, andwhich may obviously be increased by removing the ties or other supportsof the rail adjacent to the instrument.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, 1s-- l. In a track-instrument for electricrailway-signals, the combination, with the rail and a track-instrumentsecured thereto, of a bar rigidly secured at both ends to the rail andconnected with the track-instrument, so as to operate said instrument bythe movement of one of said members relative to the other, substantiallyas described.

2. In a track-instrument for electric railway-signals, thecombinatiomwith the rail, a track-instrument secured thereto, andcircuit making and breaking devices carried by said instrument, of a barrigidly secured at its ends, respectively, to said rail at each side ofthe instrument, a rock-shaft for operating the circuit making andbreaking devices, and a crank on said shaft connected with said bar,substantially as described.

3. In a track-instrument for electric railway-signals, the combination,With the rail and a bar secured thereto at its ends, respectively, of atrack-instrument secured to the rail between the ends of said bar, therockshaft thereof, a crank connecting one end of said shaft with the barand a ratchet-'wheel loosely mounted on said shaft, a crank-pawl fixedupon and operated by said shaft and in turn engaging and operating theratchet- Wheel, and spring contact-plates also engaging the teeth ofsaid Wheel, substantially as described.

MAIILON S. CONLY.

Witnesses:

R. C. OMoHUNDRo, A. MILo BENNETT.

